Justin Boggs
Gathering for Thanksgiving? Now is best time to get COVID, flu shots
The latest COVID-19 vaccine became available in late September, but only a small percentage of people have received the shot.
LEARN MOREPosted: 9:24 a.m. EST Nov 20, 2023
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced Monday that households are eligible for another set of four free at-home COVID-19 tests.
The tests can be requested through a government website and will be shipped directly to homes. HHS said the new tests will be shipped starting the week of Nov. 27.
It is the second time this fall households are eligible for free COVID-19 tests. On Sept. 25, the Biden administration relaunched covid.gov/tests, allowing households four free COVID-19 tests. The relaunch came after $600 million was allocated to manufacture the tests.
The $600 million would go toward making 200 million COVID-19 tests.
Households that have not ordered free COVID-19 tests since September are eligible for up to eight free at-home tests.
Covid.gov/tests was originally launched in January 2022 during the height of the omicron variant. Nearly 40 million households requested free tests during the original launch.
The at-home tests generally give results within 30 minutes and do not require a lab drop-off.
Officials recommend using an at-home COVID-19 test after developing COVID symptoms such as a fever, sore throat, runny nose or loss of taste. They also recommend testing five days after coming into close contact with someone with COVID-19.
More than three and a half years after COVID-19 began spreading throughout the U.S., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 16,239 hospitalizations for the week of Nov. 11.
